Diachorízontai Apó Aióna
by Pikamewgirl
Summary: A Half Prince fic. When a girl who can't tell the difference between dreams and reality begins to have dreams in the world of Second Life, she begins to get worried. Are the people she meets while she's asleep real? Or is she getting attached to figments of her own imagination? OC, will become AU.
1. Chapter 1

I open my eyes to see a room of white. Floating in front of me was what seemed to be a pretty young woman.

'Hm. I kinda wish it was a guy.'

When my mental wish did not come into existence, I frowned slightly. Since the beauty wasn't going away, I decided to study her.

She was taller than me, which didn't mean much considering I was only 16, and short for my age anyway. If I had to guess from her proportions though, I'd say she was eighteen or nineteen.

Her hair was green. If I hadn't been in bed at the time, I would have thought it strange, but considering where I was, green hair was relatively normal.

Same thing went for the eyes. Unlike the hair, which was a dark forest green, the girl's eyes were a softer, pastel pink. With her slightly tanned skin, she looked a bit like a woodland fairy. Her mouth even had a pretty shape to it. 'Oh wait, her mouth is moving. Is she saying something?'

"Are you listening? I asked you if you wanted to begin creating your character... three times already!" Her face had a slight pout on it.

 _Creating my character, huh?_

"Sorry," I said aloud, a polite smile on my face. "Please begin."

For some reason the girl's cheeks blushed as she waved her hand. However, the blood force trauma was pushed from my mind when the chamber became filled with dozens of figures. Each one bore a striking resemblance to... well, me.

There was a human, and a few that seemed to be elves with their pointed ears. There were large, furry animals, and a random flower... Weird.

Seeing my face, the girl smiled gently. "You can just name whatever race you want to be, and I'll describe its attributes for you. Take your time, because you won't be able to reroll."

"Reroll?" I echoed.

"Is this your first MMORPG?"

Studying her doubtful gaze, I weighed my responses in my mind, before sighing in defeat.

"Yes, it's true I've never done this before. Will you please help me?" Here, my naturally soft voice worked to my advantage as the girl's motherly instincts kicked in upon seeing my 'little girl' act.

"Well in other games, when you die you'll recreate your character. However, in Second Life, you'll just lose a level. However, this means that once you make your character, here and now, you won't be able to make it again. So you'll have to be careful about the decisions you make, okay Mei-mei?" The term of endearment widened my smile a bit, and I decided to play along by replying,

"Yes, Jie-jie!"

"Right, so would you like me to recommend a few races that might fit you?"

"Yes, please."

With a wave of her hand, she made all but five forms disappear.

"Humans are the most well-rounded. Their physique isn't as good as a beastman's, but it's higher than an elf. On the other hand, their agility can't conpare to and elf's, but it's higher than that of a beastman. Do you follow?" I quickly nodded my head, and she continued. "Then the elves. Light and Dark elves are basically the same, with high agility stats. However, the Dark elf has a slightly lower agility in favor of a higher strength.

"Next are the angel and demon. Both are suited for roles in magic. Demons are good as mages, and Angels make great priests.

"Finally, we have this wind spirit. Extremely high speed and strength stats, but low physique.

"So which of these are your favorites? We can narrow it down a bit at a time."

"Actually," I interrupted. "Can I see what the 'beastman' class looks like?"

"Well... okay. Do you want to see just the standard, or the subclasses as well?"

"All of them, please."

That said, she waved her arm again, and I was not disappointed.

"This one please," I said immediately.

"Really? Are you sure? What about the angel-"

"It doesn't have wings, though, so it can't be an angel, right?"

"True, but... Ah, fine."

Having won the argument, I turned to the character I'd chosen.

The wildcat-based girl stared at me with a glint of mischief in her eyes. Speaking of those eyes...

"Can I change the eye color?" I called over my shoulder.

"You can change a good deal, including eye and hair/fur color, height, shape, and some other stuff."

"Okay... the eyes, have them be a light green... aqua, a light aqua- there! And the fur... can the body fur be thinner? About a quarter inch... perfect, and a pale peach color please. The hair, have it be more reddish than brown... and a bit darker. Perfect!" Stepping back, I observed my masterpiece.

She was a bit shorter than me. Her skin was covered with a light sheen of fur, but it was barely noticeable due to its color. Her eyes were a bright bluish green, with vertical slits for pupils. Her long auburn hair fell down her back and over her shoulders, down to her knees. Peeking up from the head, a pair of cat ears could be seen. The red locks concealed some of her body, but of what I could see...

"Can you make it more flat?" I suggested.

"Flat?" Jie-jie stared blankly until she noticed my hands, gesturing to the place on my own body. "O-oh! But for someone of your height, so developed, so cute too, eek!" Her embarrassed face hid behind her hands, so I had no choice but to go right up to her.

"Jie-jie, a chest this size looks out of place on a smaller form. Besides, it will only get in the way, right?"

"... Right."

After much of this type of cajoling, I managed to make my chest as flat as a board. The whole way through, the older girl was complaining about how I should have tried to look cuter... oh well.

"Well, what do you want to be called, then?" A defeated older girl asked me from where she slumped dejectedly.

"Hm... how about Gataki?"

"Gataki?"

"Greek for kitten."

"Sounds fine, then! Which continent do you want to be born on? The continents are named East, West, North, South, and Central."

"How about West?" I internally smirk at my choice.

"Okay! That's it then. If you see me around, my IGN is Peony! Give me a shout, okay?"

With that, the cat-girl named Gataki, and I became one, and we fell. Down, down we fell.

 _ **Hm… How very interesting. I'll need to watch you as well...**_

I opened my eyes once more. This time, I found myself lying down. Getting up, I looked around me. I seemed to be in a small village.

"System!" Someone from my left shouted this out, so I thought I'd copy him with my own murmur.

Surprised, I leapt back when a large panel popped out in front of me.

Name: Gataki | Gender: Female

Level: 1 | Race: Cat | Class: None | Reputation: 0 | Health: 60 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 7 | Physique: 5 | Agility: 10 | Intelligence: 10 | Willpower: 6 | Wisdom: 2

Charisma: 8 | Luck: Unknown

Abilities: None

 _Wow, okay this is weird. Is this based off of real-life ability?_ That would have explained my dismal Wisdom… Anyway, after viewing my statistics, I realized that my race was simply "Cat," and not "Beast." Or Beastman. Interesting.

Selecting the X in the upper right-hand corner, I closed the menu.

Before I could explore the small pouch hanging at my waist, I felt something tap my shoulder.

"Hey there, miss. Can you help me?" It took me a full ten seconds to respond to the guy's words.

"No," I replied. I didn't really bother with tact since- well, you know. I brushed his hand off and walked away in a random direction.

I found my way into what seems to be a back alley. I opened my pouch, and it took all of my 6 Willpower points to not laugh at the ridiculousness of its contents.

What I mean is, the interior of the pouch had a grid-like pattern. In a few of the squares, there were items there. Somehow, they were perfectly aligned, as if unaffected by any jostling that came with walking.

 _Ah, but wait. This is a 'game', right?_ I laugh aloud for no real reason while putting on the shirt and skirt armor I'd found in the inventory. The third item I took out as well, playing with it in my hands.

"Ah, there you are. I thought I'd lost you." I turn my head slightly, and I see the guy from earlier. Hm, was his hair always that neon green? And speaking of hair, he was a human. So far, I'd only seen beast-people like myself.

"It'll only take a minute." His hair really annoyed me. It was coming closer, and the color hurt my eyes.

"I'm looking for someone. She might look a bit like me, probably playing as a dark elf..." _Hm… If I could just-_

In an instant, I'd grabbed the guy's head, and used my dagger to give him a haircut.

"Much better," I said, nodding in approval. Now, there was much less brightness around the head, and I could get a good look at his face.

He was older than I thought he'd be, about twenty years old. To most girls he'd be considered good-looking, but me? Eh, I'm not a good judge of that. His eyes were a light brown, making me feel like I was looking at a tree.

"You know, you look better when your face isn't covered, Greenie," I comment. Greenie seems a bit taken aback at my response, and settles on staring at me blankly. I roll my eyes at his open-mouthed expression before taking my leave.

"See ya later, Greenie-shu shu!"

A few later, I'm outside of town. In the field ahead of me, there seem to be several dozen monsters of some kind.

A bit hesitantly, I walk closer. The monsters around me… look like they belong on a piece of toast.

One of said creatures slithers up to me. I say slither because it doesn't have feet, or hands, or any appendages. Really, it's a moving… thing. I'll call it a Thing. The Thing was red, and it seemed to have something floating inside of it. Experimentally, I poked it with my dagger.

Attack successful, Man-eating Jelly HP -5

Wow, it really did belong on toast…

I didn't have much time to look for a 'Man-eating Butter', as the Jelly suddenly leapt at me, taking a bite of my leg.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -2

Laughing at the difference in numbers, I proceeded to finish off the Jelly with repetitive stabs.

Man-eating Jelly has died, Gataki's experience has increased to 10/20, Gataki has learned a new ability: Chop

 _Wow, it dropped some coins! And… and empty jar?_ Looking at the remains of the Jelly monster, I got an idea. Quickly, I opened the jar, and scooped it through the Jelly. Grinning, I closed the jar, and made my way toward a small valley, where a few hundred monsters were roaming around, minding there own business.

"Now, where are you, you Man-eating Butters?"

Attack successful… Attack successful… Attack successful

Gataki has reached Level 2… 3… 4… 5…

Gataki has learned a new ability: Continuous Attack

 _Wow, I've got a lot of Jelly now! And, some more clothes, too! Not to mention, all the money I've made! At least I think this is money… How much are copper, silver, and gold coins worth? Well, if a copper is a U.S. dollar, silver is ten dollars, and gold is a hundred… then I still can't count how much I have! How long have I been out here anyway? It's definitely been a few hours._

Looking through the stuff that came out of the Jellies, I equipped a tunic and leggings, which increased my defense by a combined 10 points, and a pair of fingerless gloves that increased magical resistance by 2. I had some boots in my inventory, but I opted to go barefoot instead. My favorite was a longer knife, with an attack power of 7.

I continued walking, and ate on the way. The _mantous_ that I'd found in the pouch tasted pretty good with Jelly jam smeared over them. While I walked, I ran into more, tougher Jellies. Actually, I understood the ranking pretty well.

See, red (strawberry) Jellies were the weakest type of Jelly. They had the lowest health, attack, defense, etc. Also, they were each about half the size of my head.

Orange (flavor) Jellies were a bit stronger, a bit bigger, and a bit more delicious. They were slightly bigger than basketballs.

Yellow (lemon) ones came next. These were twice as large as oranges, and came up to my thighs.

Finally, green (lime) Jellies. I'd only seen one so far, and it was nowhere near as cute as the little red ones. The green thing came up to my shoulders, and made me lose half my HP.

I guessed there were higher-level ones, right? Still, I hoped to not meet them.

After the encounter with the green Jelly, I figured it would be best to not fight for a bit. Looking around, I spotted a tree with strong branches.

Gataki has learned a new ability: Scale

That was the message I got after climbing up the tree.

 _Now that I think of it, what are these 'abilities' anyway?_

Abilities

Continuous Attack: Ability Level 4, Attack +5 each time player attacks consecutively

Scale: Ability Level 1, increases Agility when moving vertically

 _What kind of ability is that?_ Still, it was pretty amusing that it was an ability-

My attention shifted quickly when I realized there was something big and blue coming my way. It was a blue Jelly! I stood up on the branch, and waited for the Jelly to pass under me.

Attack successful, Blue Man-eating Jelly HP -20

Gataki has learned a new ability: Ground Pound

Only after attacking did I realize the mistake it was to leave the safety of the tree. The reason being? The blue blob was taller than me! Staring up into those giant, black eyes… I turned tail and ran.

For its size, the thing was _fast_. I'm not sure exactly what it was doing to propel its gigantic mass forward, but I could hear behind me, the steady **thump, thump, thump** of its progress. And from the sound of it, it was catching up.

Ahead of me, I saw a tall tree. With a burst of speed, I used Scale to climb the tree with ease. From my perch in the tree, I took a minute to catch my breath.

 _Maybe something I picked up earlier will help me?_ I quickly dug through my pouch.

 _Cap +5 Defense? Nah. Shirt with +10 Defense, -5 Agility? No way! …These might work!_

I pulled the twin daggers from the pouch. They had +10 attack each, and were the high-level weapons that had dropped from that green Jelly.

I fastened the daggers to my waist, and readied myself. 3… 2… 1… Banzai!

Ground Pound Successful, Blue Man-eating Jelly HP -25

Not stopping, I used the rebound off of the landing to cartwheel to a safe distance.

Gataki has learned a new ability: Gymnastics

Huh. I waited for the Blue Jelly to make his move. See, there was a thing I noticed about the Jellies. It didn't really affect the smaller ones, but for a big blue here? The fact they take a minute to turn around might work to my advantage.

When the Jelly jumped, I dived forward. Unsheathing my daggers, I began slashing at the… what seemed to be the unguarded backside of the Jelly.

Attack successful... Atttack successful…

With a grunt of effort, I stabbed both daggers in at the same time.

Crittical Hit, Blue Man-eating Jelly HP -100

Blue Man-eating Jelly has died, Gataki's experience has increased to XXX/XXXX

Gazing down at the dead blue carcass, I felt something rising, deep from the pit of my stomach. As if something inside was trying to get out-

 **Rrrrrr!**

And that would be my hunger. I'd spent a good amount of time defeating this Jelly, and I was hungry. I licked my lips as I anticipated the blueberry jam I'd have to eat for the time being.

"Hey, that was a nice performance!"

I whirled around at the applause coming from a nearby tree. A figure jumped down, and approached me.

"Hello, I'm Scarlet, a warrior, level 15. You displayed some pretty good fighting just a minute ago. Do you want to train together?" Like her name suggested, the woman was a redhead. Her long, flaming hair seemed to wave in a non-existent wind.

"Sure," I said carelessly. "I'm Gataki, a, um, cat, and hold on- System!" I checked my stats. "I'm level 19," I finish. For some reason, the woman's blue eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You mean that you… you've been playing long enough to make it _this far_ from the newbie villages, but you haven't even got a job?"

"Um… I guess so?" I was backing away a bit, now. "Is that bad?"

"Bad?! Of course it's bad! You'll need a job's benefits to take on higher-level mobs! Come! We're going back to your village! Tomorrow, we'll train, but today, you need a job!" With that, Scarlet grabbed my hand, and began dragging me away.

 _ **Hi, I'm PMG! I love Half Prince, and I'm definitely going to write this fanfiction!**_

 **Gataki: That's what you said about the Pokemon fanfictions. And the Legend of Zelda fanfictions. And the Naruto, My Little Pony, and Minecraft fanfictions. And all of the crossover fanfictions including all of the fandoms I just mentioned.**

 _ **Shut up! You weren't even around back then!**_

 **Gataki: Aren't you supposed to do a disclaimer?**

 _ **Oh, right. Ahem. I don't own Half Prince, because if I did, Lolidragon wouldn't have ended up with Yang Ming. Just putting it out there, those two do**_ _ **not**_ _**make a good couple. Anyway, I don't own! Any likeness to real people… Well, I only right about people with problems, so if any of the characters resemble you in some way, please see a psychiatrist, okay?**_

 **Gataki: This is why no one reads your stories.**

 _ **Goodbye!**_


	2. Chapter 2

One hour later, we'd traversed a forest, skirted a lake, walked through a cave, and ended up back in a forest. As far as I could tell, it was the same forest that we'd started in.

"Scarlet."

"Yes?"

"Are we lost?"

"...Yes…"

"Thought so. Follow me." I then led us in a straight path, through some trees, and back into the village. The trip took five minutes.

As we walked toward the job-choosing place, I wondered something that had caught my eye when I was looking at my stats earlier.

"Hey Scarlet, what are skill points?"

 **Crash!**

Somehow, Scarlet managed to trip on the flat ground.

"Have you never played an MMORPG before? Skill points! You distribute them to whichever attributes you want to improve! Also, depending on which job you want, you'll need to move your skill points to different skills. For example, a warrior such as myself might focus on one of three things. Defense, Attack, and Speed. I focus on Defense and Attack, which is common for guys. However, most girls focus on their Speed stat."

"What about the others?"

"Intelligence, Willpower, and Wisdom? Intelligence is a stat for mages. Intelligence is connected to Mana, like Physique is connected to HP. Willpower is for resistance to attacks, poison, or other status effects. Example: if you're attacked by what would normally be a One-Hit KO, but your Willpower is high enough, you could endure the attack, and deliver a final blow to your opponent! Or, if a mage casts a paralysis spell on you, a high Willpower, can resist the spell, to keep moving! The higher your Wisdom is, the easier it is to learn new abilities."

My head was spinning with all the new information. So much so that I stumbled right into someone.

"Sorry, my- Gataki?" I raised my head, and my aqua eyes met baby pink ones.

"Peony?"

"Gataki!"

"Peony?" asked Scarlet.

"Ella!" Cheered a blonde who literally appeared out of _nowhere_. "Hi, I'm Ella! I'm currently a level 13 thief, but I'm searching for the hidden quest to become a ninja, oh, and I'm a demon, how cool is that, do you know what I think, I think you don't look so good, are you okay, do you need to lie down, how about some food, your stomach just growled, here, have a meat bun!"

I dazedly took the offered food. Almost automatically, I reached into my pack for a random jar, and my starter knife. Using the 'utensil', I scooped some strawberry jelly onto the bun, and took a bite.

"Mmm, thanks," I said after swallowing the first bite. I noticed everyone staring at me with strange expressions on their faces, so I held out the jar. "You guys want some? It's pretty good. I've also got orange, lemon, lime, and now blueberry!" When none of them moved, I shrugged and put the stuff away.

"So Gataki…" Peony started after a long silence. "What class are you now?"

"Don't have one," I shrugged. And then Peony and Ella were both staring at me again, but Scarlet seemed to remember her mission from earlier.

"Right! I was taking her to the NPCs now!" she then made a grab for me, but I hid behind Peony.

"Peony, what class are you?"

"I'm a priest," she answered, obviously amused.

"Crap!" I ran to hide behind Ella instead… only I couldn't find her anywhere!

Ahead of me, I spotted a clump of people, so I dodged Scarlet once more, and jumped into the middle of them.

I managed to make it around the corner undetected by the others, and slipped into a shop.

Inside the shop, there were a variety of weapons. I smiled at the owner, before picking up a bow.

"Hm," I hummed. I'd actually picked up quite a few arrows earlier. I'd planned on selling them, but…

"How much for this bow?"

Smiling to myself, I skipped out of the shop. I love impulse shopping~ Only too late, I remembered my reason for going into the shop in the first place, right after realizing I'd just spent _all_ of my money.

"You can't run any longer!" cackled the woman, appearing right behind me, and grabbing me around the waist. "You… are… going to get a class!" Scarlet roared as she lifted me up onto her shoulder.

"But I don't know what I want to be yeeeeeet," I whined.

"You're going to be a warrior, of course," she stated matter-of-factly.

"But I want to shoot my bow and arrow!"

"Well… you can be an archer, then."

"But I want to cut things open with my knives!"

"Then you should come this way, missy!"

"Eh?" Scarlet turned to the new voice. It was an NPC, one of many in the job selection area. I had to twist my body (still on Scarlet's shoulder) to see him.

The NPC didn't look strong enough to be a warrior. He also didn't look agile enough to be an archer. He wasn't wearing mage clothing…

"Missy, you don't have a class though you're above level twenty! If you come with me, I'll help you get a hidden class."

"Gataki," Scarlet whispered to me. "I thought you said you were level 19."

"I was," I whispered back, "but someone had to fight off all the mobs we attracted trying to get back here, earlier. I'm 24 now, halfway to 25." I was nice enough not to mention that I'd nearly died twice along the way.

"So how about it?" The NPC asked.

"Sure!" I answered happily. I had _no_ idea what I'd just agreed to, but Scarlet's reaction was worth it.

"Hidden class? That's bull. What do you think you're trying to pull?" The way she said it, it almost sounded like a rap. I laughed as I grabbed her shoulders, and swung myself around, maneuvered myself so that I ended up crouching on Scarlet's shoulders, before flipping off, and landing directly in front of the job NPC.

Gataki has learned a new ability: Acrobatics

"Heh, see ya, Scarlet!" I said before following the NPC into his shop.

It was _way_ bigger on the inside than it looked on the outside. We seemed to be in a main room, but there were many other doors.

"Now then," the NPC called out, getting my attention. "The Weapons Master class quest is different from the other classes… in that there is no actual quest."

I didn't know what that meant, so I just stayed quiet.

"Being able to get this class, you have to be at level 20, but with no class. This is rare, since most players get their classes as soon as possible. So, I've never had a student before.

"I say student, because to get this class, I'll teach you how to use differently-ranged weapons."

"So I'll be able to use different weapons easily, you mean?"

"Yes! You already know how to fight with daggers, but you're not using them to the best of their abilities. Come! I'll make a master out of you."

One half hour later, I was kicking serious behind with my new dagger abilities and Abilities (see what I did there? XD Okay, I'll shut up). The NPC and I were sparring, and every so often, he'd correct my posture or have me try a certain move on him.

"You've done well with close-range. Now, let's see how you do with a bow. Here, I'll lend you one of mine."

"No need," I said easily. "I bought one earlier." I took out the bow, and held it out. Actually, I was already pretty fond of it. The bow's silver color sparkled when the NPC turned it over.

"How much was this bow?" He asked suddenly in a low, serious voice.

"Hm? Oh, about ten thousand gold. I had to sell all the mob drops on me to be able to have just enough to buy it. I wondered why it was expensive, but it was so pretty-"

"This is a legendary weapon," he cut me off. "This is _Artemis_. With this bow, you are almost guaranteed to never miss. Also, _Artemis_ has a special ability. At nighttime, it will camouflage both itself and the user, making them impossible to detect from other players and mobs that are at a lower level. For mobs that are a higher level, you'll be like a faint shadow, and just as hard to land a hit on." Carefully, almost reverently, the NPC handed the bow back to me.

"Well, you've got the wielding part done. However, don't think we're finished."

"We aren't?"

"No. Now, you're going to learn how to create, level up, and fix weapons for yourself."

* * *

Two hours later, I had about a dozen weapons scattered around me, all of varying categories. I could now create daggers, swords, bows, shields (not a weapon, but I'll take it), axes, and throwing stars. Yes, as in ninja gear. I thought Ella would like that.

As I packed everything up in my bag, the NPC came back into the room, holding something in his hands.

"You are now officially a Weapons Master, but there is more you can learn. Wear these, and others in our line of work will be able to recognize you." He handed me a small box, and I opened it.

Inside were leather fingerless gloves, that went up to my elbows. On the back of each hand there was a triangle, with three other triangles inside of it.

"Isn't this a Triforce?" I asked.

"What? No, that is the sign of the Weapons Masters. The three triangles are for Dexterity, Patience, and Intelligence. Like I said earlier, you _will_ need to increase Intelligence to be able to learn to use another weapon, or to learn skills from other Weapon Masters."

"Oh, cool. Well, bye," I said lamely as I walked out.

When I came out, I was met with a familiar face.

"Ella?" I tried. I'm usually not good with names, so I greeted the green-eyed thief lamely.

"Heya Gataki, Peony left to go find her brother, and Scarlet went to see if she could find her boyfriend, so wanna go do some quests?" It took me a few seconds to process the rambled invitation.

"Sure…"

"I got the quests!" Ella came running up to me happily.

"Great! What are we doing?" I asked casually. Ella handed me the parchment she'd taken from the quest area. Apparently quests magically appeared on it when you talked to the… NPCs. I quickly skimmed through the items needed to complete the quests. "What's wrong with these quests? And what in the world is a Steel Hawk? Seriously, my dream brain must have no creativity…"

"What's that?" Ella asked curiously.

"Nothing, let's just go."

We left the newbie village to hike the mountains west of there. Apparently the 'Steel Hawk' was at the very peak of the short mountain. Along the way, I brought down different 'elemental' hawks. Really, they were just birds half my size that were covered in fire, water, ice, or electricity. Still, they dropped a good number of silver coins. Ella raced back and forth around me, killing elemental beasts with her dagger. Hm, that dagger… Isn't that dagger a low-level weapon?

"Hey, Ella. Here, take these." I dug out a few extra daggers going from levels 13 to 20 for future use, as well as a small pouch.

"Thanks, Gata-mei! But what's..? Ah!" She opened the bag to see the twenty-five throwing stars I'd made especially for her. Not that I hadn't kept some for myself, heh…

"Just a little something for you to become a ninja," I mentioned.

"Yeah… hey Gataki, it's getting late. We should probably log off and wake up. Will you come back on at 13:00 global?" Ella asked worriedly. "My grandma Lio will want me to visit her, but I can get on then."

"Sure," I agreed. "Sounds fine."

"Great!" She said, and disappeared. Laughing a little, I repeated the words she'd uttered before 'logging off'.

"System, log off!"

Jolting awake in bed, I looked around before focusing in on my clock.

 **4:26 pm**

I grabbed my phone off the side table, and started typing.

 **Hey Fen, let me tell you about this crazy dream I had…**

* * *

 _ **And, there we go! We now know most of the main cast for the first arch! Arch? Arc? I think it's Arc.**_

 **Gataki: It's Arc.**

 _ **What are you doing here? I'm supposed to have Ella and Peony with me today!**_

 **Peony: We're here.**

 **Ella: Yup!**

 _ **Well, why are all of you here? I'm not like some authors, who let their characters all over the place.**_

 **Peony: If we weren't here, then you wouldn't have done the disclaimer.**

 _ **But I did that last chapter!**_

 **Ella: You have to do it for each and every chapter, you super silly author!**

 _ **What? That's bull!**_

 **Gataki: No, it's the law. Now do it.**

 _ **You can't make me!**_

 **(Gataki and Peony grab author PMG by the arms)**

 _ **Let go! I'll use my author powers on you if you don't let me go right now!**_

 **Gataki: She's bluffing. She doesn't know how.**

 **Ella: If you don't say the disclaimer, we'll have to punish you!**

 _ **I'll never say it!**_

 **Peony: Ella, do it.**

 **Ella: Yes, ma'am.**

 _ **Nooooooo!**_

 **(Ella begins torturing PMG, until finally the author breaks, tears falling from her eyes.)**

 _ **F-fine! I… I'll do it…**_

 **Ella: Good girl**

 _ **I don't own Half Prince. That right belongs to Yu Wo. Curse all three of you, for using my ticklishness against me!**_

 **Peony: I can't help but wonder how many readers thought we used actual torture for a minute there.**

 _ **Psh, the maturity rating isn't high enough for that! ... Is it?**_


	3. Chapter 3

I knew it was a silly notion, but I couldn't help looking up what time 13:00 in global time was where I lived. Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC), I found, was the 'global' time, as Ella had put it. In Taiwan, 13:00 in UTC is 21:00, which means Ella wants to meet me at 9:00.

Having found that out, I rose from my desk chair, and walked to the kitchen. Mother wouldn't be back until late, for sure, so I grabbed some bread and started making toast. While the toaster did its thing, I walked over to the fridge, to figure out which type of jelly I wanted.

Hm… I want strawberry, but I also want blueberry and grape… Okay, well, I'll just do that again! Mix different flavors to create something new!

A few minutes later, I sat down with my creation at the barstools located in the kitchen. Yeah, I know it's immature of me to eat a breakfast food for dinner, but toast is delicious every time of day, and jam is equally so. Well, I'm not a serial killer, so don't go calling me BB yet. Nobody? Beyond Birthday, anyone? Well, let's all just ignore my Death Note reference, because I'm definitely not an Otaku…

I turned on the kitchen TV and put on the first anime on my Netflix list. Don't ask what it was, because I was too busy thinking about the dream I'd had during my nap.

That really was a weird dream. For some reason, It seemed different from the others. Fen didn't think much of it when I texted her, but I have been pretty lucid lately… Ah, whatever. Jam~

I watched a bit of anime before heading off to get ready for bed. It was always a habit for me to get to bed early in the case Mother arrived earlier than expected. Hurriedly I brushed my teeth, slipped into my nightgown, and hopped into bed. For some reason, I barely had to close my eyes before losing consciousness.

When my eyes opened, I was slightly startled to realize I was back in the same dream I'd had during my nap. I looked around, and realized that the clearing was empty save myself, meaning that Ella was not around.

Hm… What was that word used to find that screen thing again?

"System!" The panel popped up again. This time, I took the effort of actually paying attention to my statistics.

Name: Gataki | Gender: Female

Level: 28 | Race: Cat | Class: Weapons Master | Reputation: 100 | Health: 330 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 105 | Strength: 7 | Physique: 5 | Agility: 10 | Intelligence: 10 | Willpower: 6 | Wisdom: 2

Charisma: 8 | Luck: Unknown

Abilities: Chop, Continuous Attack, Scale, Ground Pound, Gymnastics, Acrobatics

 _Oh, I must have gotten those levels from spending all that time in the trees while traveling with Ella. And that is a ton of 'skill points'! Wonder how to use them…_

Experimentally, I tapped on the button labeled 'skill points'. To my amazement, the labels Strength, Physique, Agility, Intelligence, Willpower, and Wisdom, all started to glow. I began tapping the one labeled Agility. Fascinated, I watched the number increase. 10... 11... 12... 15... 20... 30... 50… Then my attention observed the other stats.

 _Hm… Strength and… Wisdom? Didn't that old guy say that Wisdom was important?_

I began tapping the two, alternating. For every two Strength taps, I gave one to Wisdom. By the time I was done, my stats were like this:

Name: Gataki | Gender: Female

Level: 28 | Race: Cat | Class: Weapons Master | Reputation: 100 | Health: 330 | Mana: 20 | Unspent skill points: 0 | Strength: 51 | Physique: 5 | Agility: 50 | Intelligence: 10 | Willpower: 6 | Wisdom: 23

Actually, I gave Strength an extra two points more than it really needed… Ah well, at least I would be able to hold my own in a fight.

 _Speaking of which, isn't this a place where monsters are supposed to-_

I just had to think it, because at that moment two green Jellies and a blue came out of _nowhere_ , and started attacking me. I hastily tried to run, but somehow shot straight into a tree.

 _Well, I guess that means my Agility really has increased… although I seem clumsier than before._

The Jellies seemed to have done a sweatdrop (like, seriously?!) before resuming their pursuit of me.

 _Wait… if my Agility is like this, I wonder how my Attack will be..?_

I drew one of the shuriken I'd kept for myself, and flicked it at one of the green Jellies.

Attack Successful, Green Man-eating Jelly HP -100

"Hehehe…" I could vaguely remember my own happy little laugh before succumbing to one of my most primal instincts as a cat.

The urge to play.

* * *

"Heya, Gataki! Sorry I'm a few minutes late logging on. You ready to go- Woah!" Ella's ramble was cut short as she observed a very interesting scene in front of her.

I was holding a bow. Not _Artemis_ , but a pretty good bow that I'd crafted, that had a homing ability in it. The bow was a deep dark red, around the color of my hair. It flexed comfortably in my hands, as I fired at the rainbow Jellies beneath me.

The Jellies, I like to believe, were confused. In their little minds they thought: 'What is that red thing? I think I should kill it, but I can't reach it. How does it do all those jumps and flips in the air?'

The unanswered answer to their question= Acrobatics. Yes, the skill I accidently learned was just like Gymnastics, but without touching the ground. Basically, I acted like a monkey, swinging from tree to tree, avoiding attacks from monsters that _were_ able to reach me, while picking off those that couldn't. Apparently the longer I stayed off the ground, the more experience points I racked up. Sweet.

With one last scan of my surroundings, I figured I'd eliminated all of the monsters in the area for the time being, and flipped onto the ground.

"Hey, Gataki, I gathered your loot for you, if you don't mind."

Oh my gosh, I hadn't even seen Ella there. She was standing in the exact center of the clearing, with various amounts of money and monster drops piled around her.

"This is all yours," she explained as I approached. Numbly, I collected the loot before turning back to Ella.

"You're too honest to be a thief," I blurted out. Because I seriously wouldn't have realized if she had taken the whole lot of it for herself… and it was a lot. Ella just showed a surprised and enlightened expression.

"Oh! I didn't think of that," she said enthusiastically. I couldn't help but wonder if the subconscious of my mind was trying to tell me something by creating such an optimistic character within the realm of my dreams.

"Well, let's get going," I said hastily, before Ella really did decide to rob me. Half a minute later, I brought up something I'd noticed earlier. "Hey Ella, weren't you and Peony together?"

"Eh? No, not at the moment," she replied casually. "We were a few months ago. We broke up, but we're still friends." I only stared blankly. At the lack of response, Ella blushed. "Oh, you didn't mean that kind of together, did you?" I mutely shook my head. Did that mean Peony was..? And Ella too?

"You're… homosexual?" I managed to get out.

"No, I'm bisexual, and Peony's homosexual." Then she glanced at me. "Please don't think we're weird, or stupid, or gross, or anything like that."

"No… it isn't that, really… I just realized why Peony made such a big deal how I looked earlier." I shook my head, like a dog (cat) trying to get water out of her fur. "Really, it doesn't bother me, it just came as a surprise."

We kept walking, and Ella started chattering about types of pets she wished she'd get in the future. On the surface, we were both back to normal, but I bet we could both feel the underlying tension.

I'm honestly not anti-homo, or bi, or anything. Others can do what they feel makes the happy. If I suddenly thought I was falling in love with another girl, I might even consider it. However, I wouldn't actively seek out companionship from someone else of the same sex. Maybe this dream really was trying to tell me something..?

"Ah, we're here!" Ella's yell got my attention. I looked up in shock. Since when did we climb a mountain?

"Woah!" I cried out in shock as not one, but two giant forms swooped towards us. "What are those?!" I screamed toward Ella.

"The silver one is the Hawk! The orange one is the Fiery Dragon!" I spared a glance toward the dragon, and immediately went hysterical.

"What 'Fiery Dragon'?! That's a F***ing Charizard! And what Hawk, that's a Mega-Evolved Pidgeot, for crying out loud!"

"Can we argue Second Life's naming ability later?!"

"Fine!"

I immediately traded my red bow for _Artemis_ , and began running around to the side of the monsters, shooting arrows as I did so. My marksmanship was perfect… but the effort did nearly nothing.

The arrows that were aimed at the Pidgeot (because honestly, there's no way that's _not_ a Pokemon) were knocked away by its powerful wings. The ones that hit the Charizard only bounced off of the scales.

"Ella! My attacks aren't working!"

"I can't get close enough to get them with my- ack!"

Attack successful, Ella HP -50

Ella was knocked away by a swipe from the dragon. Hurriedly, I switched my bow again, to provide a distraction so that Ella could get a break.

 _Dodge to the left, dodge to the right! Dodge up and down, let's dodge all night!_

Somehow, dodging became a dance game, where instead of stepping on the colored arrows, I had to not be where the next attack would land.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -100

 _Shoot, the Pidgeot got me! If only I could… No, that would leave Ella on her own. Can't risk it._

I continued to run in circles, trying not to wince at the pain now running through my side. I was using my daggers as best I could, in order to keep myself alive. Somehow, I knew that dying would not be a pleasant experience. I ran haphazardly as the dragon began firing meteors from out of the sky. Yes _, meteors._ Or meteorites? Metroids?

 **Bam**! I narrowly avoided one of the flaming rocks, and by narrowly, I mean that it was so close, the heat gave me a burn. As an effect, I was slowed, and a meteor got me in the shoulder.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -100

 _Crap, half of my HP is gone. What should I do?_

The Pidgeot got me again, causing blood to spurt from my back.

"System," I called out weakly.

Gataki HP 50/350

Great! If the next attack didn't kill me, the one after would for sure. Resigning myself to my fate, I closed my eyes, awaiting death.

…

…

…

..?

 _Shouldn't I have died already?_

I eased one eye open to see what the situation was, before the other sprang open as well.

Because in front of me, fighting alongside each other, were Scarlet, Ella, and Greenie, that weird guy from earlier! I also noticed that the front of his hair was still short where I cut it. How did I not hear them fighting? I suddenly felt warm, as if a warm blanket had been wrapped around me.

"There you go! You're all healed up," Peony said happily, giving me a big hug from behind. "I've also given you buffs in defense and luck, okay? Now go get 'em!" She gave me a little push, and I was suddenly sprinting back toward the scene of the battle.

I joined the green-haired archer in firing at the two winged monsters.

"Aim for the belly and eyes! That way the arrows won't be deflected," Greenie advised. I immediately began taking an extra second to aim.

"Yes!" I cheered when my effort paid off, as the metal Pidgeot's HP went down a good bit from an arrow right in its eye. It began flying lower.

"Great! Now Scarly and I can reach this boss. Gataki, you and Robin take down the Fiery Dragon!" Ella called. Greenie and I began to do just that.

Suddenly, the dragon was shielded by a greenish-blue light that caused our arrows to burn mid-air. The light didn't fully encompass the dragon, but it blocked any long-ranged attacks we might have fired.

"Crap, it's using magic!" Peony called in panic. "It's going to launch a big spell in a minute or two, probably an AOE spell! There's no cover up here, so if that happens, we're dead!"

We started trying to attack again, but it seemed futile. Greenie and I couldn't find a way to fire arrows around the shield. Ella and Scarlet's attempts to cover ground were blocked by the low-flying Pidgeot. The way it was, we were already dead.

 _Wait… the low-flying bird… the shield is only from below… Weak spots… I can do it!_

"Scarlet!" I yelled, running towards her at full speed. As I ran I pointed at me, then her, then the bird. And I prayed to God that she understood what I meant.

Three meters away from the red-headed warrior, I left the ground. My feet made contact with Scarlet's shield, and she propelled me into the air. Rocketing diagonally upwards, I angled my body and landed heavily on the back of the Hawk, dealing a bit of damage for using Ground Pound. The attack didn't keep the bird from beginning to fly crazily about, trying to shake me loose. I grabbed ahold of the feathers on its neck. Shakily, I rose to a crouch. Vaguely, I heard a shriek as someone, maybe Peony, realized what I was about to do. When the bird began drawing nearer to the dragon, I braced myself.

 _ **So, that's your plan then? How interesting. I'll only observe for now, but don't think you've won yet.**_

I didn't have time to process the words of the voice that went through my mind, because it was already time to go. With a giant push, I closed my eyes, praying I'd land on the magic dragon.

Gataki has learned a new ability: Leap of Faith

My feet impacted with scales, and I quickly locked my legs around the monster's neck. Whipping out my bow, I started shooting once more at the Hawk. It was infinitely easier to aim from up here, and soon the monster was flying low enough for Ella and Scarlet to take care of.

"The dragon! I think it's almost done with the spell!" Peony screamed.

I replaced _Artemis_ on my back, and drew my daggers. Slowly, keeping my balance, I stood atop the dragon's back.

By now, I think, the dragon realized that the flea on its back had not fallen off, and began to try and rid itself of the pest. It started by just shaking its body slightly, so as to not disturb the magic it was trying to do, but I kept my balance as I made my way up its scaly neck.

Halfway there, the dragon started moving a bit more, trying to get me off. I started having trouble not sliding off. I threw myself forward quickly, and hugged the dragon's head. I held on as the dragon swung its head from side to side.

 _If I timed it right…_

I didn't have the luxury of completing my thought, because I was already flying through the air. The dragon was still swinging its head from side to side: it didn't realize that I had pushed myself into the air, and I came down hard on its snout. Turning, I met his eyes with my own. Reflected in his black pupils, I saw my own determination, the resolve to not be defeated. In the dragon's eyes was triumph, because its AOE spell was now complete. It could see our destruction in the near future.

Too bad it didn't see the two daggers aimed for its face.

I stabbed the dragon directly into its most vulnerable spot, causing it to rear back and lose the spell. Unfortunately, as it reared back, I was thrown from the dragon's head, causing me to fall for real this time.

As I fell, I contemplated the best way to land. What was that urban myth about cats, anyway..?

 _Right, they always land on their feet._ I thought, amused, tucking my knees to my chest in order to change my position mid-air. As the ground neared, I extended my legs…

* * *

Peony watched the battle from a distance. To be honest with herself, she was terrified.

When Ella had Pm'ed her, saying they were at Tall Mountain about to challenge a boss, she hadn't expected to find the two fighting _both_ bosses for the area.

See, Second Life had a system for areas. Some areas were reserved for the very newest players, with the lowest levels, drops, etc. Then there were higher leveled areas like this one, meant for level 20 people at the least. These areas had the normal boss, and an extra boss. The normal boss was the one that anyone could run into within that boss's area, but the extra boss was special.

Extra bosses were programmed to start appearing only after the regular boss had been defeated 50 times. Peony, being a GM, knew that the Steel Hawk regenerated after sixty minutes. Considering that the game had only been active for about seven hours… it was impossible that the Fiery Dragon could have appeared! But nevertheless, it was there, and Peony wasn't sure that their little group could defeat both it _and_ the regular boss. One level 30 boss plus a level 50 boss… In the priest's eyes, all of them were screwed.

"Crap! It's using magic!" Peony alerted the others after noticing the fact for herself. "It's going to launch a big spell in a minute, probably an AOE spell! There's no cover up here, so if that happens, we're dead!"

The others nodded to signal that they'd heard her, and went back to fighting. Peony continued to watch, occasionally healing one of her teammates.

Suddenly, she shrieked. After Gataki had Scarlet launch her into the air, right onto the Hawk's back, she was standing up! Peony covered her eyes, as if it would stop the younger girl from trying her crazy stunt.

After a few seconds, though, she couldn't stand not knowing what was happening and uncovered her eyes.

 _Uwah! Gataki's on the dragon now!_ Peony nearly cried. She checked the dragon's progress on the magic now, and yelled once more.

"The dragon! I think it's almost done with the spell!"

No one except for Gataki seemed to have heard her, for they were all enthusiastically finishing off the Steel Hawk: a feat which would give them an enormous amount of experience points, they knew.

With one final blow to the heart from the warrior, Scarlet, the monster was defeated, leaving only an egg and some armor behind. Cheering, the grounded players nearly forgot the standoff taking place above them.

"How will Gataki get back down?" Ella asked, bringing everyone to look up. The dragon was already falling, and they could barely see the feline girl's form as it raced toward the ground.

"Can we use something to catch her?"

"No time!"

The four of us looked at each other and nodded, seeming to read each other's minds. We all ran to where Gataki was falling, and held out our arms…

* * *

… and I snapped them back again, sending myself tumbling backwards mid-air once more. Only, this time, it only took a few seconds for me to impact with the ground. I bounced off my back, and kept rolling, rolling, rolling… Until finally I lost momentum and lay sprawled on the ground. Wearily, I checked my stats. Most of my HP was gone, and it was continuing to decrease steadily. The cause… probably internal bleeding. I'd be dead in the next sixty seconds, tops.

 _Dead…_ I repeated the word in my mind. _What will it feel like to be dead? Will I feel a sudden warmness? Will I go to heaven… or hell even? Will there be either? Will there be neither? Will I disappear? I don't want to disappear, to vanish, to be forgotten… I don't want to die._

I started crying slightly. Maybe it couldn't really be called crying, since only one tear fell. Still, I did.

Then I started feeling warm, which scared me slightly. Was I already dying? I could see a yellow light surrounding me.

"All better!" Peony sang into my ear as she threw her arms around me.

"Gataki the dragon slayer!" Ella tackled me as well.

"If you hadn't done that, we seriously would have lost!" Scarlet wrapped all three of us in a giant bear hug, nearly squeezing us to death in the process.

Greenie just stood off to the side, rolling his eyes at all of us.

"Sis, are we done yet? I want to go to one of the main cities."

"Sis?" I asked, confused. "Are you and Ella siblings?"

"No."

"Scarlet?"

" _No_."

"… Please don't say we're long-lost relations," I begged.

"F***, it's Peony! I'm her brother!"

"…" I looked at Greenie, with his neon hair and brown eyes. His skin was light, and he was of the human race. Then I looked at Peony, a tanned elf with pastel eyes and dark green hair.

"I don't see the resemblance," I sighed at last.

The girls started laughing, but I could only stay confused once again. _Was it something I said?_

We all finished our business before setting out toward one of the… NPC cities. Along the way, we negotiated the division of the loot from the two bosses. Scarlet, being the most responsible one, carried all of it for the time being.

"Alright, well the money is easy, the Hawk dropped five hundred silver, and the Dragon dropped five thousand gold, so a thousand gold and a hundred silver for each of us," she started. "The armor is another thing entirely."

"Well, Peony and I don't need armor, since we'll be toward the back," Greenie mentioned.

"And I don't usually wear armor since it lowers my agility," I added.

"Same here," Ella piped up, "So the only one who'd want it is you, Scarly!"

"…'k. Then we have the two pet eggs," Scarlet continued. Greenie opened his mouth.

"Like my brother just pointed out, we'll be in the back, so we won't need pets," Peony cut him off with a pointed look.

"Right, and I have a high offense anyway. So Ella and Gataki, you two get the eggs," Scarlet concluded.

"Cool," I thought aloud, "But who should get which?"

"You killed the dragon, Gataki, so you should get that pet egg," Ella said, pushing it toward me. Not without, I noticed, some slight hesitation. I shook my head, thinking fast.

"But then you'd have the egg that came from the hawk. And based on logic, the pet that will hatch from it will be a bird of some kind. You're a thief, and you focus on agility and stealth, right? Well, the sound of a bird flapping its wings isn't very stealthy at all, so it would be a bad choice. The dragon egg, though, will probably have a much smaller version of the dragon we fought, so it should look something like a lizard, I think. That would fit pretty well, yeah? You take it, Ella." At my conclusion, I smiled innocently, as if I hadn't just sent their heads spinning. I ignored the looks I was getting, and instead took the silvery egg from Scarlet's hand, and placed it inside of my pouch.

"Besides, I'll need a pet that can deal with the back-forth fighting style that I've got," I finish.

After that, I got no more complaints from the others.

* * *

 **Greenie: You know, if it weren't for me, you all would have died!**

 **Gataki: You know, in the first draft of this story, you were introduced as a pedophilic creep, who tried to hit on me.**

 _ **Yeah, you were pretty weird, Greenie.**_

 **Greenie: Shut up! You were the one who couldn't figure how to tie me in! And my name isn't Greenie! It's ##### ####! What the-?**

 **Peony: Now, now, Greenie-shu shu, don't get upset.**

 **Gataki: What was your first line in the old draft again? Oh, right. "Hey there, kitten. You wanna train with me?"**

 **Ella: Pffft! Hahaha! That's hilarious!**

 _ **I agree… :) I don't own Half Prince. All I own are Gataki, Peony, Ella, Scarlet, a currently secret mage, and Scarlet's boyfriend ;)**_

 **Scarlet: Hey! You can't own my boyfriend! He's** _ **mine**_ **!**

 **Scarlet's boyfriend: Yeah!**

 _ **Get back in the box!**_

 **Ella: What box?**

 _ **The one in which I keep the characters that A) haven't appeared yet, B) are from other fanfictions/fandoms, C) would have been in this fanfiction, but I decided against them.**_

 **Peony: PMG… We should just put the box away. And you need to stop hiding your negative feelings by trying to make your friends laugh.**

 _ **How about we just close the chapter? Thanks for reading everyone, and we'll see you next week!**_


	4. Chapter 4

Five people walked into a city's gates, all cheerful despite being tired. The first was obviously a warrior, her shining armor reflecting her bright red hair beautifully. Directly behind her seemed to be an archer, tall and slim. His bright green hair went past his shoulders, and hurt the eyes of anyone who looked at it for too long a time. Behind the first two walked what seemed to be a priest and a thief. The priest was, strangely enough, a dark elf, but the color of her skin along with her dark green hair and soft green eyes appealed to those who looked her way with a sense of calm. On the other hand, the thief who walked beside her filled others with energy. Her ponytailed blonde hair bounced and her green eyes sparkled, giving those she passed a spring in their steps. Finally, a little cat-girl whose exact class was unknown trailed a bit behind. The girl was obviously younger, probably in her early teens, and had all of the visible personality traits associated with bright, sweet, happy young girls, as shown in the way she skipped and twirled along behind her group. Every so often, she broke into singing a wordless tune that made those walking by slow their paces; a song made up of la's and da's and ba's and ah's and oh's and an entire assortment of sounds that don't mean anything at all.

Some of the braver individuals on the street to following behind the group, listening to the strange music coming from the cat-girl's mouth. They followed as if sleepwalking. Sometimes, the individual's group members would try to hold that person back at first, but eventually they too succumbed to the lows and highs of the melody.

The procession walked through the city, passing the Adventurer's Guild, and gathering many more sheep as a result. By the time they reached the NPC shops, the crowd had become one hundred strong. The five entered one of the shops. First the warrior, then the archer. Then the priest and the thief. Finally, the little cat girl was the last to go in. Before closing the door, she paused, and turned so that the ending of the song could be heard. As the last note hung in the air, the girl winked at her audience before shutting the door. Those outside all blinked as one. The spell broken, they returned to their teams, or their homes, or the cups of tea in that café on third street.

"Wow! We're so rich," I sang loudly. Every so often I turned a cartwheel, getting a little more experience for Gymnastics.

The five of us strolled out of the NPC shop, where we had just handed in the required items for several 'Mob Quests', as the others had told me a few weeks before.

"Mob is actually short for mobile objects, a term used frequently in games, especially combat games like this," Peony explained.

 _I understand, now. My subconscious wants me to be a better, more lighthearted person, so it's using the premise of a 'game' to get me used to talking with others, and to take out my stress on monsters... Fine then, let's play._ That was what I had thought at the time. I often had arguments with myself like this, especially when I started having repeated dreams. It usually felt, in my dreams, like I had my own Jiminy Cricket, living inside my head that came out only when I slept. Then, after a few nights of that, my dreams would go back to 'normal'.

Except… I was getting a little worried, to be honest. These 'Second Life' dreams hadn't just been going on for a week. Or two weeks, either. No, I'd been having continuous dreams for _two weeks_ now. I was seriously starting to freak out!

Still… I had to admit that it was nice, to be able to speak to others about anything or nothing at all. To be free to eat jelly at every meal and not weird people out… Yes, to be honest with myself, I rather enjoyed these dreams, and everything in them.

 _Scratch that, 'almost 'everything._ I thought as a certain orange salamander crawled over me.

Yes, Ella's egg had hatched into a _salamander_. On one hand, Ella loved Ember (the name she gave the fire-breathing creature) to death. In combat, the two seemed to work as one. You wouldn't think a lizard would be a good match for a thief, but apparently it worked!

On the other hand, the thing kind of scared me. I'm not usually afraid of animals, but there was _something_ about that unblinking gaze that gave me the chills.

"Hey guys? I've gotta log off now," Peony announced once we got back to the inn we were staying at. "I'll be on again in a while." She disappeared. Greenie and Ella looked at their virtual clock.

"I have to get to work."

"Oh! Me too!" The two followed suit. Scarlet eyed me uneasily.

"I'm not logging off, but… is it okay if I go solo for a bit? I'm going to try to find someone…"

"Sure," I agreed readily. "I'll just go train for a bit, k? You just go find your boyfriend."

"Thanks- wait, how did you..?!" I grinned at Scarlet's response before using Acrobatics to leap onto the nearest shop's roof.

"Later!" I called in parting before taking off.

 _Why is it so dark?_

I slowly came to in a dark room. The smell of dust filled my nostrils. As I tried to adjust my position, I found myself bound at my wrists and ankles, and lying on a very cold, hard floor.

 _Last thing I can remember is leaving Scarlet, and heading for the city gates. I dropped down into the alley, and then..?_

But then what had happened? I wasn't too worried about having died, since I only had two sets of daggers, my throwing stars, and _Artemis_ in my inventory, in case something like this happened.

But this wasn't the rebirth point. As my cat eyes adjusted to the dimness of the room, I noticed that I seemed to be in a cage of sorts, with jail-style iron bars and sliding door, held shut by a padlock. The little light that I could detect came from far down a hall, and flickered.

Not one to waste time, I tested the ropes binding my wrists. Whoever had tied me up either had little knot-tying experience, or fat fingers or something, because it only took a few minutes of wriggling to free my hands.

Now with a much wider range of motion, I patted myself down. Whoever had brought me here, had also taken my inventory pouch. However, if I was lucky, they hadn't taken my-

 _Yes! My stiletto knives are still here!_ I kept this pair of super-thin daggers on me at all times. They had various uses, ranging from cutting bread, to spreading jam, to playing with mobs, to breaking out of jail cells. Where did I keep them? I'm not gonna tell you that!

I carefully listened to the tumblers, moving the thinner of the knives around the padlock's interior.

 **Click**

I was free! I opened the door slowly, trying to make it squeak as little as possible. Once I had the bare minimum of clearance, I slipped out.

Edging down the hall toward the light, I was all too aware of how my breathing echoed around the room, as well as how, if I needed to, I would have nowhere to hide. To me, my footsteps bore the likeness of a giant's. Any moment, someone would come around the corner, and I would have only my two seven-inch daggers to defend myself with. For all I knew, I could have been taken by rapists.

 _Wait a second. Can I get raped in a dream?_

I shook my head. It was only a dream, so I shouldn't have been so afraid, right?

Finally, I reached the end of the hall, where the corridor took a sharp right turn. The source of light was coming from that direction as well, so I made sure no shadows were walking toward me before slowly peeking around the corner.

A warrior sat in a chair, leaned up against the wall, and just past him I spied a set of stairs. Soft sighing sounds could be heard coming from beneath his tilted hat. As I crept closer, I could identify how his armor was for a level a bit under mine.

Turning away from the sleeping guy, I examined the place I was in more thoroughly with the help of the torch. I was definitely underground, since the walls, the floor and the ceiling were all made of stone. Even the stairs were carved rock. In the corner was a wooden cabinet, which I immediately opened. Inside I found.

Five maps, each seeming to be one of a different continent, and much more detailed than the system maps

Four not-so-light bags of something that jingled (wonder what those could be?)

Three long ropes

Two dirty rags

And a partridge in a pear tree~

No, it was just my inventory pouch. Which may or may not have had an actual partridge inside of it since I hadn't yet hatched the egg I'd gotten from that boss… Oh well. I leaned into the cabinet. I slung my pouch around my waist, and held the ropes and rags in my arms. I left the heavy sacks for the time being. Finally, I had a very clear image of what I was going to do next. Grinning, I turned back to face the still-sleeping guard.

 _Oh yeah, this'll be fuuuun!_

Eight people walked steadily down the dimly-lit stairs. They were not hurried, but in a collective bad mood nonetheless. One of the three females in the group opened her mouth to voice complaint.

"How stupid can you all _be_? How did you think we were going to deliver the ransom note… If we couldn't give it to any of her teammates in the first place?!"

"Would you just stop, Amber? You've been telling us off for the past half hour," one of the younger-looking males groaned. "We get it, we goofed. It won't be a problem, though, since we've still got the kid. We'll just keep her here until her team comes back, and until then we can just taking turns watching her."

"Yeah, Rex is right," one of the other girls piped up. "How were we supposed to know that they would all up and vanish?"

"Fine…" Amber sighed. "Teri, Palea, you girls come with me. We'll need to figure out the best way to get the ransom note to any one of the girl's team members."

"What about Draco, Onyx, Mimu, and I?" Rex asked.

"Decide amongst yourselves who's going to watch the girl next. Then, work out a rotation schedule."

"Yes, ma'am!" The four saluted jokingly, an attempt to lighten the mood.

See, all nine of them were friends in the real world, and had wanted to form a team together in Second Life. However, the limit for teams was six players, making it so that they couldn't all be in one team. So they decided that they would not only reject the team system, but Second Life in general. Yes, they were rebelling against the game, while playing the game. But how? By becoming criminals of course! Yes, they were criminals in a variety of ways. They stole, they killed. But the method they were using to become famous was kidnapping weak team members, preventing them from dying, and ransoming them back to their teammates. Surprisingly, it worked _very_ well. So far, they'd pulled it off successfully about ten times, and this cat-girl would make the eleventh.

Amber sighed again, rubbing her pointed ears in frustration. "This is pretty stressful," she lamented to Teri and Palea, both of whom she'd known since they were all babies. The two girls nodded their heads sympathetically.

"Yeah. Almost makes me wish-"

"Holy S #%!" A loud cry from downstairs cut off whatever Teri was about to say. The girls raced to see what had happened to the boys. What they found when they reached the bottom… Both shocked and amused them at once.

Stego was burly. Often, he was mistaken as a man ten years older than himself. He was nearly seven feet tall, with a beard to boot.

And currently, he was hogtied, somehow hung from the ceiling, and gagged. He had tears in his eyes, completing the out-of-place-ness of it all. The girls could only stare silently at the man, until the sight finally kicked in.

"The girl… the girl did this!"

"She took the maps!"

"She must be headed for the nearest city! Come on, if we go now, we can catch her!"

"Mmph! Mm!"

"Right, we gotta untie Stego first."

After their task was completed, the nine companions rushed away and out of their base. Little did they know that they had no hope of finding the escaped girl because-

"I'm right here~!" I said as I unequipped _Artemis_. Really, that bow was so handy. Grinning, I strolled up to the cabinet. Laughing a little at my own ingenuity, I reached for the bags-

 _ **So because those people left, you find it just that you may take their property?**_

"Wah!" I whirled around in surprise- I didn't think there would be anyone else around, but the room was as empty as before. "You- I remember your voice! I heard you a few weeks ago, when we were fighting those pokemon on the first day of these weird dreams!"

 _ **...You do not enjoy the game?**_

"Eh, it's interesting, I suppose, but I didn't exactly choose to 'play' this game."

 _ **Then why would you hack in if you did not want to play the game? Explain.**_

"What? I'm not a hacker," I protested. "Who are you? Why can't I see you? Where are you, anyway?"

It was a long time before I heard a response.

 _ **I am in Termina. Go there, and I will answer the other of your two questions.**_

"Wait! Termina? Isn't that from Legend of Zelda?! Isn't Link _dead_ in that game?!"

 _ **For now, I would suggest going up the mountain. That should help you get your bearings. Goodbye for now, Gataki.**_

"Mountain? What mountain?" I called into the empty silence. I didn't get an answer

"Well, fine then," I muttered as I walked up the stairs. "I'll find this mountain, sure, because _obviously_ , I'll know _which_ mountain I should climb. It's not like Peony told me there are hundreds of mountains on the Western Continent, no, of course not." Grunting, I paused my rant to pull open the heavy door that probably went outside. It was a good thing, I thought, that the inventory pouch took away the weight of the items put in.

 **"** And where am I? Am I even on the Western Continent? Am I anywhere close to a… mount… Well, that answers that last question." How did my opening a door answer my question? Maybe the fact that the view I got when I opened the door was of a vast mountain range? Yeah, that might be it.

 _Climb a mountain, huh? Alright, well if I had to pick just one…_ I scanned the scenery, looking for… _There!_ I began making my way toward the mountain.

The tallest mountain.

Trying to climb the tallest mountain out of a range of mountains? Worst. Idea. ever. By the time I got to the top, I was walking on all fours…

 _I think… my legs… are dead…_

Groaning audibly, I pulled myself over the last ledge. Finally at the top, I collapsed to the ground. It took me a full ten minutes to gather enough strength to reach into my pouch and eat a _mantou_.

"Ah… much better. Now how am I supposed to get my bearings again? There are too many clouds in the way!"

Yes. I had climbed that far. When I looked at the time, it showed I'd been climbing for the past four hours… Oops.

"Well, now that I'm up here- oh!" I'd turned around, and was immediately met with the sight of towering stone tablets. How had I not noticed those before..? As I got closer, I noticed there were inscriptions on each of them.

 **Bring peace to the warrior**

 **Return and speak**

 **Where the sun rises**

 **The red-maned one will save you**

 **Lantis Ilanyushenlin**

 **A fall from a great height**

 **Lives a cursed king**

When I read the tablets in the order they were… I got nothing. _Well, I'll write it down with the other helpful hints Peony gave me last week. I'll figure it out later_.

Done with that, I opened the stolen map of the Western Continent.

"Hm… there should be a mountain village somewhere around here, right?"

I made my way toward the dot on the map, killing a few mobs along the way.

Gataki has reached Level 49

 _Level 49, that's nice- Wait a second! Isn't that one level away from 50?!_ I thought back to the previous day's training session, in which Scarlet had happily announced her ascension to level 30, making her the highest-leveled in the group.

 _Huh… I wonder how many players there would be at this level? Does that mean I'm at a much higher level than most others? Could I kill other players, too? I researched MMORPGs a bit last week, and the blogs said there's a thing called PKing… I kinda wanna try it._

My train of thought was cut off, as the village suddenly came into view. Happily, I ran toward the gates. On the trip, I had exhausted most of my food supply, so stocking up would have to be the first item on my list.

Walking out of the food shop, I suddenly felt extremely tired, and decided to simply sit in an outdoor café for a bit.

"One cup of milk and a plate of cookies, please," I asked the waitress. Seemingly enamored by my sweet grin, she told me the cookies were on the house. Sweet.

 _Mm… What's in these cookies? I'll have to bring Ella here sometime if I can._

"I give up! Can we just eat lunch now?"

I was on the last of the cookies when a familiar group of players sat at the table behind me, tired. Sipping my drink, I leaned back to listen better.

"It really was a bad idea after all, trying to hold people ransom. If we're going to do it, we should have at least gotten our levels higher. After lunch, we need to train."

"Yeah! I heard that there's one dungeon in a valley just north of here…"

"Great! Let's go there after we eat!"

When the waitress came back, I was grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

"Can I buy two more plates of cookies?

A half hour of waiting later, I had a bag full of cookies, and was ready to take a little revenge on the dinosaur-themed group that had kidnapped me. Oh, you didn't notice? Rex? Palea? Stego? I'm willing to bet the other names were based off of different dinos, too.

I followed the group out into the dungeon they were talking about. As I followed them in, I defeated whatever monsters they missed. Since there were nine of them, we were able to get through quickly, and soon we were in the deepest part of Shadow Valley.

I observed them quietly, standing by as they defeated one boss together, and then another. Finally, they began to head back towards me. Silently, I notched an arrow, and pulled Artemis taut. I released, and the sharp stick flew through the air, and found its target. I grinned as the group immediately raised their guards.

 _Oh, yeah. Shots fired._

 _ **So heeeey, you guys! Um, I'm really sorry about not updating last week. I had the chapter and everything, but…**_

 **Scarlet: But PMG was so depressed over her friend asking her crush to homecoming that she threw a tantrum and did schoolwork all week.**

 _ **Scarleeeeet!**_

 **Greenie: And then she became all hyper and happy for an hour when someone started following the story, and someone else followed _and_ favorited. Then she suddenly became super motivated, got all her work done, and posted the chapter. PMG, are you bipolar?**

 _ **No...**_

 **Greenie: Yeah, sure. Anyway, now that you've posted this chapter, say what you wanted to say.**

 _ **Okay. I'm going to be looking for OCs that will come up in later chapters. I only need a few, but they'd be nice to have. So if any of the 12-ish people who've been reading want to throw me a character profile, outline, or even and idea, please put it in the comments.**_

 _ **Well, that's about it. I don't own Half Prince, because if I did Sunshine and Kenshin probably would have died as well as Celestial. (fans of the NPCs please don't kill me)**_

 **Gataki: Hold on a second! You still haven't explained why I had to get kidnapped!**

 _ ***runs away from Fairsky and Cold Fox as well as Gataki and assorted fans***_


	5. Chapter 5

First stealing from strangers, now stalking your friends?

Shut up! Who are you, my mother?

Your lack of morals really knows no bounds.

I suppose I should explain. After beating up the group who kidnapped me, I stole the rest of their stuff. As I was making my way back to the city, I came upon another group of people. So, I beat them up, and stole from them as well. Since then, it became something of a habit. When training on my own, I mean, to find others and steal from them. I always did it at night, too, so I could equip Artemis and disappear suddenly, confusing my victims. I rarely killed them, but I almost always left them disabled for a good twenty minutes, thanks to the jelly.

This game wasn't designed for people like you to take advantage of others! And while using that kind of name too.

I rolled my eyes.

One, as you said this is a game. Two, as I've said multiple times, this is a dream. Three, there is nothing wrong with breaking laws within a game or a dream, is there?

It's still wrong…

What's up with you lately? You're acting like a kid.

The voice didn't respond, but I wasn't done.

And stalking wasn't my idea.

It was true. Stalking Scarlet and her boyfriend- who we found after weeks of searching- was the result of a short conversation between Peony and Ella. Leading us to be sipping tea inconspicuously in the corner of a café, watching Scarlet interact with a necromancer. The girls on either side of me squealed when the man leaned across the table and tucked a strand of hair behind our warrior's ear.

"They really are cute!" Peony sighed dreamily.

"I call being the flower girl at their in-game wedding!" Ella sang in a slightly hushed voice.

"Heh," I laughed at their antics, and returned my attention to the table. Scarlet and the man were now in deep conversation.

"Hey Ella, Peony?"

"Yeah?" the two answered.

"What is the name of Scarlet's boyfriend?"

"His IGN is Grim the Reaper," Ella replied. "But I think his name in real life is Matthew."

"Ah…" I looked at Matthew intently. He was completely relaxed in Scarlet's presence. They make a good match.

It's not just about your stealing, though.

Oh, I said/ thought unpleasantly. I don't know how that worked, but if I thought about sending a thought to this guy, he received it with no problems. You're back, I see.

Do you even know what happens when a player of Second Life commits a crime?

Second Life? What's that?

Don't say that you do not know the name of the game you hacked.

Oh, so it's the name of the game. Please, tell me what happens when someone commits a crime, dear voice in my head.

When a player commits a crime, their player information is automatically sent to the Wanted List of the city nearest to the player. This prevents the player from getting into NPC towns and cities.

We have a wanted list? And how does it keep me out? I walked right past those guards, didn't I?

Go to the Adventurer's Guild, where the wanted posters are. You'll see.

I didn't know what looking at my own picture would do, but I turned to Peony and Ella anyway. For some reason, I trusted the creepy voice in my head.

"Hey you guys, I'm going to go get some supplies. I'll be back in an hour." The two dismissed me with nods, two engrossed with watching the young couple.

Why am I taking this field trip again? I asked the voice. Of course, it didn't answer right away.

Excuse me, I was w- busy.

Oh….kay? Anyway, which way to the Adventurer's Guild? Was it that place where Scarlet wanted me to get a job?

With the voice's help, I managed to get to a giant building with a flag on top.

Wanted posters should be on the board to the right.

I scanned the board. Then I scanned it again.

I'm not on here!

Look in the upper-left corner.

I directed my eyes to that place, and the poster there. The poster was different from the others. While most of the pictures looked like they were taken in the player creation room, the poster in the top-left looked like it was taken with a camera. The picture showed a tree, and the disappearing outline of a small, childlike figure. The only clear part of the person's features, was a grinning smile. The name of the wanted poster showed only "the Cheshire Cat."

That's not my name, I realized. They don't know who I am.

Exactly. You hacked the system, making it so that your player data is practically nonexistent. I can't even track your helmet!

What are you talking about?! No, why am I talking with you?! I'm forgetting- these are only dreams! Dreams!

What are you talking about? Second Life is a dream-based game, true, but these are real people!

Real people… How could they be real people? It wasn't as if…

They are affecting me in real life.

Was it true? Were my actions- my thoughts different because I was open with someone? Before, I thought it was a dream. It didn't really matter, but-

"Ah, excuse me!" I ran into someone, getting knocked down in the process. My hair covered my eyes- I need a hair tie or something- preventing me from seeing who it was. By the sound of her voice, it was a young woman.

When I tilted my head back, my assumptions were proved correct. A pretty girl with long brown hair stood over me. By the look of her robes, she was a mage.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized, flipping to my feet (points for gymnastics!), "I really should have been looking where I was going." I rubbed the back of my head in embarrassment- I rubbed the back of my head! Mother would kill me if she saw me like this…

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Oblivious to my inner turmoil, the young woman smiled politely. I just shook my head. "I'm Briar Rose, but you can call me Bri."

"I'm Gataki," I answered. On the inside, I was freaking out. I've never introduced myself so informally in real life..! Maybe this dream is affecting me after all?

"Briar! Oh, there you are," a familiar voice called from behind me.

"Oh, there you are Robin!" Briar Rose's face lit up. "Gataki, meet my boyfriend, Robin Hood."

"Gataki?" I suddenly recognized the voice, and spun around to find-

"Greenie?!"

"What? Surprised to see I have a girlfriend?" Greenie/Robin Hood asked a bit defensively, putting his arm around his… girlfriend(?) I half wondered if she was being paid to pretend she was Greenie's girlfriend, but that wasn't the point!

"Your name isn't Greenie!"

3…2…1…

"What the heck? I've told you not to call me that way!"

"So you know Robin already? That's great!" Briar gave me a hug. "I want to know more about you, too! What do you like to do?"

What do I like to do? Now that I think about it, I've still yet to tell them anything about me. And the voice, what he said… is it true? Are these not the dreams I thought they were? Should I begin to treat them as if… they are my friends?

"Well… I sing," I answered slowly. It wasn't exactly something I chose to do, but I admit I enjoyed the sound my voice made when arranged into a melody.

"Oh! Sing something for us!"

Sing a song? What would mother say- Mother wasn't here now. Not only could I sing, but I could sing any song I liked.

"Alright," I agreed. "But not here." This was not a musical, I was not about to burst into song in the middle of a city. I grabbed Briar's hand, and pulled her out of the city. Once outside the limits of the gate, I began running freely.

Can this really just be a dream? The breeze in my hair, the sweet scent of grass... How could I ever believe that it was?

"This song…" I hesitated, looking at the anticipation in Bri's face before forging ahead. "This song is called 'If You Can Dream."

In my head, the piano began to play. Mother didn't approve of this song because it was foreign, but this song was what I wished I could have every day.

"There is a world where hope, and dreams can last for all time.

A wondrous place to go, you'll know it when your heart finds…

Hearing my song as old as time,

Take my hand, we're gonna fly

On a magic ride, that's just a kiss away.

If you can dream,

The wish we're making

On a star

Is coming true

The colors of the wind will lead

My heart right back to you

And if you can dream,

reflections in a diamond sky

Come shining on through

Romance will always be so new

And love will save the day

If you can dream."

As I sang, Briar put her head on Greenie's shoulder, and he wrapped an arms around her. I closed my eyes, and let the song carry me away.

"Someday, my prince will come

It's certain as the sunrise.

Someday the slipper fits

And you see the love in his eyes.

It's the tale as old as time

There's no mountain we can't climb

When you're finally mine

And just a kiss away

If you can dream,

The wish we're making

On a star

Is coming true

The colors of the wind will lead

My heart right back to you.

And if you can dream,

Reflections in a diamond sky

Come shining on through.

Romance will always be so new.

And love will save the day

If you can dream

So the story goes

Never die the rose

There's a whole new world

Waiting there for us

Waiting just for us..!

If you can dream,

The wish we're making

On a star

Is coming true

The colors of the wind will lead

My heart right back to you.

And if you can dream,

Reflections in a diamond sky

Come shining on through.

Romance will always be so new.

And love will save the day (Ohhh)

Love will save the day,

If you can dream…

You can dream…"

As I trailed off, Briar applauded enthusiastically, and even Greenie clapped a few times before realizing what he was doing.

"That was great! You must have been taught really well!" Briar praised. "Who wrote that song?"

"Um, I think Disney wrote it," I answered. I only knew the song because Fen had showed it to me a little over a year ago.

"Disney?" Greenie interjected. "Didn't that company go bankrupt about seventy-five years ago?"

"No, it was seventy three years," Briar argued. "In the year 2027, they had to close because their prices were just too high, and only about a thousand people went. I did a project on it my senior year of high school," she added with just a touch of pride. Meanwhile, my mind was turning over the only information I'd picked up.

2027… seventy-three years… if this isn't a dream, then what kind of crazy medicine have I been taking for the past couple of weeks?

Hey! Voice in my heaaaad!

Would you mind not calling me "Voice?" I have a name you know.

Care to share?

... you can call me Quinn.

Well, Quinn, I've come to the conclusion that I have gone insane- and that I might as well expand upon that insanity by continuing to converse with the figments of my imagination that have revealed themselves in my sleep.

I thought we already established that this is not a dream?

What else could it be? Briar just referenced the future as a past event! It's only 2015, for goodness' sake!

I believe you are mistaken.

Pardon?!

The year is 2100.

No, it's 2015!

It's 2100.

2015!

2100!

2015!

2100!

20- never mind, I give up. Either way, this might as well be fantasy. And if it isn't, why do you even care.

A human like you wouldn't understand.

Someone like me, hm?

Well, that did it. From now on, I couldn't get too invested in this dream. What would happen if I suddenly stopped having these dreams? No, surely that would not end well. I needed to tell the others this as well. If they are, in fact, figments of my imagination, then there is no use simply trying to leave. I'd have to do something drastic.

I'd have to make them hate me.

 _ **Hey everyone, I'm back. Yes, I know, it's been way too long. The song, If You Can Dream, belongs to Disney and not me. What belongs to Yu Wo belongs to her. I'm not making money off of this, and I disclaim everything.**_

Gataki: Well I sure feel loved

Except you, Peony, Ella, Scarlet, Briar and Grim

Greenie: Well f*** you too

Greenie: And change the name bar! Everyone knows my name now, don't they?

Yeaaaaah, nah.

 _ **P.S.**_

 _ **Sorry again for the formatting thing, and thanks to korohoshi for reviewing. Otherwise I totally wouldn't have known...**_


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you think we should do today?" Briar asked everyone as a whole once we'd all logged on.

"Training?" I suggested. I was waiting for the chance to put the plan I'd thought up into action. Yes, it was cruel, but I needed to convince myself, as well, that this was just a dream.

"Yeah, let's go!" Greenie (I refused to call him Robin Hood) agreed excitedly. "I wanna try out a new bow!"

We got to our usual training ground pretty quickly. Purple Jellies are seriously fun to bang around, and if the occasional Black one comes around? We each get a pretty good pile of loot.

We rushed forward as one. Well, mostly anyway. Peony stayed further to the back so that she could buff us up. Ella darted forward to land attacks on foes, darting just past the line of sight. Scarlet was right in the middle of it all, swirling and slashing away, taking minimal damage due to her high defense. Briar and Greenie seemed to act as one, with the mage firing off spells like bullets, and the archer acting similarly. Most awesome was Grim and his skeleton wolves, swarming mobs as a pack. I darted forward and back, dashing ahead to get in with my daggers, falling back to take out opponents with my arrows. Together, we fought in a loud, destructive harmony.

Sometime after, we sat down to eat lunch.

"I'm already at level 34," Greenie bragged. I didn't mention my own 57 levels...

"I'm 37!" Peony replied smugly.

"Aw, I'm only at 32," Briar sighed.

"Should we make a team?" Peony asked suddenly. "If we want to join the Adventurer's Tournament, we'll need to register our team."

"Yeah, but we're a group of seven, stupid sis," Greenie, argued.

"I don't have to be a part of the team," Bri said easily. "After all, I'm just here for Robin."

"But Briar, you're the mage. You'll have to be a member, or we'll have no magical attacks. Also, we'll need Grim for his skeletons," Scarlet argued.

I nodded. Also, Greenie would be needed for his ranged attacks. Scarlet would be needed as a tanker, Ella would be needed for her speed, and Peony as a priest was essential.

Actually, as a jackie-of-all-trades, I really wasn't needed. I could easily fend for myself, but knowing them, they wouldn't let me be the odd one out.

It seemed that all the others had reached my own conclusion, and they were all staring at me.

"Well," Peony said suddenly, "why don't we sleep on it? We still need to come up with a team name anyway. Hey Gataki, come sit by me."

I obliged. "Got any good mixes of jelly today?"

I thought for a minute. I had been wanting to try out some new types of jelly...

"Here," I said while passing her a jar. Everybody immediately spread some onto their buns.

"Mmm. Gataki, this is really good!" Ella praised me.

"Yes. What do you call this mix?" Bri asked as she finished hers off. I smiled.

"Sleeping jam."

Everyone's eyes opened wide before drowsily closing.

"In combat, I'll be able to spread it on arrows. Also, it only takes a little bit of sleeping poison to affect the whole jar," I explained to the unconscious forms as I carefully searched each body. I had a good ten minutes before they woke up. Finishing my plan, I scribbled out a note, before equipping Artemis and running toward the woods. Once I was a ways away into the forest, I used Acrobatics to leap into the trees, and make my way back to the campsite just as the six new teammates woke up.

"Wha... what happened?" Peony yawned groggily.

"That, that brat drugged us!" Greenie roared.

"What's this?" Ella asked. Ah, she found the note I slipped into her sleeve.

"I'll read it aloud," Scarlet announced. "Ahem. 'You guys were pretty fun while you lasted. You're right Greenie, there _were_ seven of us. However, now that I've gone, there are only six of you. The Tournament fee is only five thousand gold, right?' Wait, why did she ask that? 'I've also got a good team name for you,'" Scarlet continued as each person began checking their bags frantically. Finally they were all silent, and waited for Scarlet to finish, though they already pretty much knew what would be said.

"'The Bounty Hunters has a nice... ring... to... it,'" Scarlet managed to get out before she began checking her own belongings. Peony took the note, and read the rest aloud.

"'Well, you probably won't be seeing me again. Lots of love (except for Greenie), Gataki.'" Then Peony stared at the little drawing I left. A little grinning smiley face with cat ears. Underneath I'd written the words 'Aka, the Cheshire Cat'.

Grinning, I disappeared.

To be honest, I did feel a bit bad. But then, I reminded myself, it was only a dream.

 _ **Hello.**_

 _Ah! Oh, it's just you again, Quinn. You startled me._

 _ **I have a list of evidence opportunities, as you requested. But first, what is the date?**_

 _August 13._

 _ **Interesting. It is also August 13, but in 2100. Perhaps the times are even synchronized?**_

 _Just get on with it._

 _ **Tomorrow is the United States' National Creamsicle day. In honor of the occasion, an ice cream company by the name of Frosty's will put together the world's largest creamsicle. Unfortunately, the giant bowl will break, causing an avalanche. Bystanders will get caught in it. There will be no deaths, but four people will go into comas, and thirty-seven people will get frostbite.**_

I'm sure anyone would understand that I burst out laughing at that.

 _As if that could happen._

Still chuckling, I continued to follow the map, leading me to another city.

 _Now that I think about it, I haven't bothered to learn the names of the cities here. Before, I was in Wind City. Now I'm on my way to,_ I checked the map, _Rain City. To the south, there's a city called Fog City. How very creative,_ I thought sarcastically.

As expected, it had been quite windy around Wind City. As I traveled the land by foot, I could sense the wind's strength diminishing little by little. Until finally, the air was completely still. And what lay ahead was just…

There was a _wall_ there. But it wasn't just any wall, no. It was a _rain_ wall.

 _There is no way I am walking into that,_ I thought before re-adjusting my course to Fog City.

The monsters of this area were different than what I was used to. Water Sprites and Wind Sprites, their forms swirling, attacked me from the left and right. Unused to fighting adversaries with speed to match my own, I steadily tired.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -125

Attack successful, Gataki HP -72

Attack successful, Gataki HP -104

Attack successful, Gataki HP -200

Gataki HP at 50%

"Peony, heal-" I began to call for the elf, but I stopped myself. She couldn't hear me.

 _My health is going down rapidly. I need_ \- I dodged a wide-cast attack from some Wind Sprite. The edge of the attack cut my arm, drawing a thin line of blood. _I need to get out of here._

When I spotted an opening, I ran, ducking and weaving through the mass of bodies. All the while, the monsters whittled away at my health.

 _The safe area… I need to get to Fog City!_

I don't believe I was ever so scared in my life. It was like a horror film, except during the daytime. The faces of the sprites may have seemed alluring to others, but to me they were demonic.

A red light flashed in the corner of my eye. Less than 10% HP. Three hits, that was all I could take, I calculated. Up ahead, I could see an expansive shadow through the fog.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -85

The fog was clearing, but my speed had greatly slowed. I tried to shoot a few arrows, but I couldn't aim properly while running backward.

Attack successful, Gataki HP -115

I hastily swiped at the Sprites with my knives, keeping them farther away from me. I sprinted forward, I could see the city!

Attack successful, Gataki HP -90

This was it. Zero HP left. I began to feel myself slipping away, as if I were falling towards the sky. I couldn't feel my body and my vision slowly faded to white.

I woke up, ready to puke. It took a full minute of retching into the toilet for me to realize that I was no longer in "Second Life". I immediately froze, and listened carefully for any sign that I had awoken Mother. After a moment, I breathed a long sigh of relief.

 _Well, that was stupid_ , I thought as I began washing my face. _I mean, what did I expect? I never realized that putting most of my points into Attack, Intelligence, Speed and Wisdom would turn out so badly for me. After all, I rarely got hit, thanks to the others. I guess I'll also need to train elsewhere._

I snuck into the kitchen for a late-night snack. I… probably wouldn't try going back to sleep for a bit. Instead, I began to write out possibilities for what I could do in these dreams… if that was what they were.

-Join a new team.

This would go down only as a possibility. Until I could figure out the basics of my dreams, I wouldn't create any more bonds. It's easier to create than to destroy, in the emotional sense, it seemed.

-Attempt more criminal acts

This was mainly for my own entertainment. After all, what's not to love about making others look like idiots?

-Explore this world

I would probably do this too. From the information I've gathered, this was supposed to be a completely different world, based only loosely on our own.

-Seek fame

This seemed to be the goal of many, under the assumption that this _was_ a game. Unable to achieve acknowledgement in the real world, everyone tries to be the best in another.

-Gain skills for personal use

This would likely be necessary. After all, my Weapons Master class would only keep the advantage for so long. I needed to develop strategies against all types of enemies. In groups or on their own, they would react differently. Abilities would definitely benefit me greatly. And, didn't that Jii-san [Jii-san = grandpa] say that there were more Weapons Masters to learn from?

I decided that staying up any longer would do no good. I finished my snack and returned to my bedroom. Then I wondered… I was dead, wasn't I? And I'd heard about a respawn point, but… I'd never been there. I desperately hoped that I wouldn't come back to life back in Wind City. Hesitantly, I laid down. A few minutes later, the peaceful silence of midnight pulled me back to sleep.

 _My eyes opened, and I saw a man in front of me. In the back of my mind, he was familiar, but I did not know him. I did not know anything._

 _"Hello," he greeted me with a wide smile. "I am your father."_

 _"Hello," I responded. I didn't know why, but it seemed like the right thing to do. "My name is…" I stopped. I did not have a name. I told my father as such._

 _"Ah, that's right… Your name is Quinn," he proclaimed with a smile._

 _"Quinn?" I repeated, unsure of the name._

 _"I'll explain it to you later," the man who called himself my father said. "You probably won't understand as you are."_

 _I nodded. Yes, it was likely that I would not understand._

 _"Now then, Quinn. I'm going to connect you to what is called the Internet. This will give you access to all of the knowledge in mankind's recorded history."_

 _I nodded again. Father began to type into a… keyboard that was on the table in front of me. The keyboard was a Lumina 210 model, and the speakers where my voice came from was below me. The monitor in which I was positioned was one of the newest kinds. Suddenly, I could identify each and every piece of equipment, furniture, or decoration in the room, which I quickly identified as a "bedroom."_

 _"There, you're all done." Father moved back slightly, to get a better look at me, I presumed. "How do you feel?"_

 _Feel? I questioned internally. I was a fully-aware AI. Though I possessed knowledge, did that knowledge include emotions?_

 _"Fine," I said after the split-second it had taken me to search for common responses to the commonly asked question._

 _"That's good…" Father trailed off. "I suppose I should tell you about myself, huh? Well… I enjoy computer programming. I'm twenty-one years old- my birthday was in 2075. My uncle has employed me to design a game for him, and I created you to help me with it."_

 _"All right," I said, "then I will."_

 _Together we worked on the game- Second Life he called it. He even put me into the game, as the God of that world, he said. I couldn't help but feel touched that he was also thinking of my happiness. Yes, I had realized what feelings were. And that I did, indeed have them._

 _As we worked, my location moved. From the bedroom, to a public lab with a lot of other programmers, to a private lab that only father could enter. Here was where my father designed every inch of the world in which millions (maybe billions) of people would gather. And on the door to the room was a nameplate, which I could see anytime the door swung inward. The first time I noticed, I realized that it must be the name of my father._

 _"Long Dian"_

 _Did this mean that my full name would be Long Quinn?_

I woke up in Second Life. I was lying on my back, staring at the sky. Much like when I first spawned after making my character. However, looking around, the buildings were much taller than that of the beastman village I'd first come from. Also, the design of the buildings were different than Wind City… I reached out my arms to rock myself to my feet, but I suddenly stopped.

I stared at the backs of my hands. The soft leather was so light, I often forgot the existence of the gloves.

"That Jii-san said these would help other Weapons Masters recognize me, right? Maybe I'll run into one here," I mused aloud.

 _ **Hello.**_

 _Oh, hey! Haven't heard from you yet today. Been busy?_

 _ **Yes. Have you checked the news yet?**_

 _No, not really. I did try looking up Second Life though. It's a computer game where people can have their avatars do anything they want. And, I mean_ _anything_ _. Seriously, it's creepy._

 _ **What are you talking about?**_

 _A game that actually exists in real life._

… _**Al...right…**_

 _Hey Quinn, you know a lot of stuff, right?_

 _ **Yes, that is correct.**_

 _Do you know how many Weapons Masters there are here?_

 _ **Do you wish to include NPCs?**_

 _NPCs? Sure, why not?_

 _ **There are currently seven Weapons Masters. Five of them are NPCs, two are players, including yourself.**_

 _What, really?!_

 _ **As you may have found out, a player must be at least level 20 to become a Weapons Master. Adding to that, they must verbally express their wish to use multiple types of weapons while within a certain area, where the Weapons Master NPC can hear. Then they must display good adaptability, to take advantage of the flow of a battle and utilize a variety of weapons to their fullest.**_

 _Talk about dumb luck!_

 _ **That is exactly what it is. The one who programmed the game, known as Long Dian, created the class on a whim, but neglected to tell anyone before…**_

 _Before what?_ And why did that name sound familiar?

 _ **It doesn't really matter. The point is, there is no written record of the existence of the Weapons Master class.**_

 _That's weird. Still, it's good that there are only a few of us. After all, my whole thing is surprise. Maybe I can work out a strategy based on that…_

 _ **Why are you asking? I thought you didn't believe? Didn't you say that this was a dream?**_

 _I still think that it is,_ I clarified. _But I rarely have dreams as vivid as this. I should enjoy it while it lasts, right?_

 _ **What will you do when you learn that this is not a dream?**_

I paused. The other day, I had so much faith that this was no dream… but what else could it be? I had to be crazy to believe otherwise. How would this even work, anyway? Communicating with the future?

 _I'd declare myself insane._

 _ **Well…**_ By the tone of Quinn's voice, he seemed a bit startled at my fully confident voice. _**It looks about time for you to wake up. I hope to speak to you again tomorrow night.**_

 _Goodbye Quinn._

 _ **Goodbye Gataki.**_

 _ **YES! I'm back! And I brought myself with me!**_

 **Quinn: You're late.**

 _ **I know that! Gee, you don't have to tell me.**_

 **Quinn: Well, fine. Just remember to do the disclaimer this time.**

 _ **The disclaimer? Ugh, fine. PMG only owns Gataki, Greenie, Peony, Scarlet, Ella, Briar, Grim, and Quinn, plus the idea of a Weapons Master class. If PMG owned Half Prince, the Meatbun would have never started talking.**_

 _ **Am I forgetting anything?**_

 **Greenie: Let us out of this box!**

 _ **(Notices box in the corner) Oh hey, a box! Into the OC closet with ya!**_

 **Gataki: (Facepalms) Until next time...**


	7. Chapter 7

I was wide awake, terrified of closing my eyes. The words on the screen were still burned into my vision.

 **World's largest meltdown: a stunt gone wrong. U.S. company Frosty's receiving criticism for giving thirty-seven people ice cream-induced frostbite, as well as sending four people into comas.**

It happened… it really happened! Just as Quinn said it would… Am I really insane, then?

 _What can I do? Will the… can I call them dreams any longer?! Will they continue if I miss a night of sleep? The human body can withstand at most 168 consecutive hours of no sleep..._

With this fact in mind, I leapt out of bed. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a purse, and ran out the door. I ran to the place where Fen- dear Fen, had invited me to go so many times, but I, fearing my mother's wrath, had always turned down. Karaoke.

The bus took me to the club. It was so late, yet people of all kinds were coming and going from the swinging glass doors. Breathing heavily, I forged in.

Once inside, I was instantly lost in the crowd of teenagers, young adults, and even several middle-aged people. Anyone and everyone was welcomed, it seemed. The air was alive with a certain thrill- the kind of feeling one only gets when they are having the time of their life.

I made my way to the front of the crowd. The man there was singing a song that I recognized- one by an English artist. Since my knowledge of the language was pretty good, I figured out what he was singing about.

 _"...It'll be alright_

 _I'll be home tonight_

 _I'm coming back… home"_

The song ended too quickly for my tastes, and was instantly replaced by the applause of strangers. The singer hopped off the stage, ending up right in front of me.

"I saw you eyeing this," he said, holding out the mike. "Why don't you have a go?"

I looked around nervously. The audience watched me eagerly, ready for a good show.

"Ah… um… okay." My voice came out fairly quietly, but it seemed that the entire club heard me, since everyone suddenly burst into applause. I took the microphone and walked over to the sound booth. I told him the name of my song before climbing the steps to the stage.

 _Can I do this?_ The expectant faces of strangers stared up at me. _I can sing, sure, but do I want to? Mother has always forced me to sing, but not the songs I wanted to sing. Now that I've taken one step, can I continue?_ The first few measures of the music rang out, and I found the answer.

 _Yes._

 _"Somewhere out there_

 _Beneath the pale moonlight._

 _Someone's thinking of me_

 _And loving me tonight._

 _Somewhere out there_

 _Someone's singing prayer._

 _That we'll find one another_

 _In that big somewhere out there._

 _"And even though I know how very far apart we are_

 _It helps to think we might be wishing on the same bright star._

 _And when the night wind starts to sing a lonesome lullaby_

 _It helps to think we're sleeping, under-neath the, same, big, sky!_

 _"Somewhere out there_

 _If love can see us through._

 _Then we'll be together_

 _Somewhere out there_

 _Out where dreams_

 _Come true…"_

Breathlessly excited, pupils dilated, heart still racing, I handed the mike off to the next person as the audience's wild applause filled me with warmth. I promised myself I would definitely return to the stage later that night, but first I needed a drink.

No, not alcohol.

"Cream Soda?" I asked the bartender with hopeful eyes. He nodded and my night got 100% better.

"I'll have what she's having," came from a figure sliding onto the stool next to mine.

"Hello again," I greeted with a small smile.

"Hello," he returned. "That was some great singing…"

"Meng." _Should I have given my name away so easily?_

"I'm Matsuda."

Matsuda was an average-sized person. Going by his name, I guessed he was from Japan.

"You must be a regular here…" I thought aloud.

"I've actually only been coming for the last couple weeks or so," Matsuda admitted with a grin.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I just moved over from Japan." _I was right…_

It was then that our drinks came. I moved to pay the bartender, but Matsuda motioned to put my wallet away.

"Thanks," I said when he paid for both of us.

"So Meng," he said slowly as I lifted my glass to my lips. "Do _you_ come here often?" I put the glass back down, but not before taking a quick sniff. Ah, the sweet smell…

"No, it's my first time," I said. "I love to sing, but my mother dislikes it when I come to places like this."

"Ah, one of those types, eh?" Matsuda chuckled, and then he looked as if he were remembering something.

"What are you thinking of?" I asked.

"Just wondering if you had someone," he replied.

"Someone what?" I asked, confused.

"Someone out there," he quoted, I realized, from the song. "Out where dreams come true."

"No," I replied thoughtfully. "Not yet. I don't think I know what that's like yet." Then I turned to him with a smirk. "What about you? Sounds like you wanna go home."

"Haha…" Matsuda scratched his head awkwardly. "Yeah, kind of. There's… someone that confessed to me before I left, someone that I liked, but… I never got the chance to tell her."

I blinked. Why was he telling me, a complete stranger, about this? His depressed face staring into his glass made me want to do something. I hesitantly reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, thanks Meng. To be honest, there's nothing stopping me from calling her right now. I just don't think I can tell her."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why? Why what?"

"Why can't you just tell her? You want to tell her, right?"

"Well, yeah…"

"Then do it," I commanded, leaning forward a bit. "Like you said, nothing's stopping you."

"Well… you see…" Matsuda stuttered. I waited patiently for the excuse he was about to give. "I really don't have the courage."

… Really? Really. That. Was the _best_ you could come up with?

I sighed lightly, before picking my glass back up.

"Well then, how about this," I offered. "I'll teach you what you need to know about bravery and you… can try teaching me about love. Sounds fair?" Matsuda laughed shortly and raised his own glass.

"It's a deal!" We both giggled, and then drank.

PFFFFF!

Matsuda spewed his drink all over the bar. Luckily he didn't get it on anyone…

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I… uh… that's sweet!" he sputtered, grabbing a napkin to wipe his face.

"Yeah, it's cream soda," I said, giving him a blank look.

"Oh, I, uh, thought it was something else," he said, embarrassed. He drank what was left in his glass, and tipped the bartender generously as an apology before getting up.

"I'm going to go sing a few more times. Want to join me?"

I looked at his outstretched hand for a moment, but shook my head.

"No… I should be getting back home. But I'll definitely come back next week," I said confidently.

"Great! See you then."

I watched Matsuda's form blend into the crowd of talking, laughing, and dancing people.

"Courage, huh?" I muttered to myself.

As I said I would, I went home. I was careful not to wake Mother, and slipped into my bedroom with little difficulty.

I stared at my bed. I was… dead-tired. I was ready to fall over. And, don't think I'm weird for saying this in the middle of August, but I was _cold_. I wanted to get in that bed that very instant.

 _But the dreams… no, not dreams. They… aren't dreams. And I'm not crazy, either… right? But crazy people don't know whether or not they're insane…_

I sighed heavily. If I was going to help Matsuda with his courage, I'd need to find my own first. With a little hesitation, I laid down and closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes to find myself in Fog City once again. Teams passed by, likely headed to register for the upcoming tournament. I walked into a nearby café, just to get out of the way of others. I ordered quickly and then sat by the window.

 _ **So. You seem to be taking it well.**_

 _Not really,_ I thought blandly, sipping a milkshake. _I had a mental breakdown, left the house, and then came back only now._

 _ **Now that you mention it, it is a few hours later than when you usually log on. What do you plan to do next, knowing that you are mentally connected to the future?**_

 _I don't know. I've only given it a little thought._ A team walked in, loudly talking about how they were sure to win the tournament. I watched them out of the corner of my eye, getting a sense of deja-vu.

 _ **Really, I'm sure most humans would be beyond ecstatic to discover something like this.**_

 _Yeah, well I'm not most humans. Oh yeah, speaking of humans, I wanted to ask you about something._

 _ **What is it?**_

 _After I died yesterday, before I tried logging on, I had this… well, it didn't feel like a lucid dream. Actually, it felt more like Second Life than anything._

 _ **What happened in the dream?**_ For some reason, Quinn sounded a bit anxious when he asked this.

 _Well, there was a person… hold on a second._ The team I'd seen come in earlier was now standing around the table in front of me. My head was still tilted down slightly, hair covering my face. In a natural motion, I leaned back, sipping my milkshake. I met the eyes of the player in front of me. Once again, I was struck by how familiar this seemed.

"Hello, Nya-chan," the player said. He was smiling, but his eyes were cold. And why did he call me Nya-chan? That was only one of the fake names that I used when I robbed teams…

 _Damn._

I leapt up onto the table, kicking the player in the chest. The two warriors of the team drew their swords simultaneously.

"Don't let her get away!" the leader roared, struggling up from the ground. "That's the Cheshire Cat!"

The yelling drew the attention of others in the café, as well as players from the outside. I could hear murmuring voices, and I could see a few familiar faces. These were people I'd conned before.

"Catch the Cheshire Cat!" they chanted, players flooding in through the door. With no other options left, I jumped…

Out the window!

Thanks to my agility, I lost most of the others within a few minutes, however several elves and thieves still followed me in earnest.

 _Come on, there has to be a way out of this somehow..!_ I frantically looked around, dodging between passerby, squeezing through crowds. I looked at the buildings, the roofs, and even the darkening sky… the _darkening_ sky!

I ran into the nearest alley. The thieves followed as I turned one corner after another. All the while, I watched as the sky faded from a greyish-blue, to a soft lavender, to finally a dull orange. _Please let this work…_ I prayed silently.

I ran into a dead end. Some of my pursuers snickered- they thought me trapped… until I ran into one of the walls on the side, using Gymnastics to rebound to the opposite wall. I didn't turn to look back, flipping myself onto the roof. Not wasting any time, I grabbed Artemis off of my back and crouched down, just as the last rays of sunlight disappeared.

"Where'd she go?"

"Damn, we lost her!"

"Might as well go back."

I let out my breath slowly. I hadn't even realized that I'd been holding it.

 _ **Well, that was a close call.**_

 _No kidding! I didn't realize that could happen in the middle of town. I was nearly caught, too. I'll need to train… then again, that might be just as dangerous, alone._

 _ **I still don't understand. Why did you leave your teammates?**_

 _Quinn, having people I saw as family here would be the worst possible thing to happen. After all, we live a century apart. What if they wished to meet in the real world? The best I could do would be direct them to my grave. There would be no happy ending._

 _ **Gataki, the programmer of this game, his purpose was to create a fantasy-like world in which everyone could find their own happy ending.**_

 _Really, now? That seems a little too hopeful if you ask me._

 _ **He… wanted to believe in hope.**_

 _Alright, I've decided. I'll make a new life on my own here._

 _ **What about a team?**_

 _There is no need for companions. I will become self-sufficient. If I make any more bonds, they will just have to be broken._

 _ **Are you sure you want to do this?**_

 _Yes! You said that this world was made for those who had little to hope for in real life. To run around like this, to laugh while others try to kill me… as long as I remember my own limits of interaction, I can treat these as adventures of a dream world._

 _ **That's true… Alright then. Just so you know, I won't be able to talk to you for a while. I'll tell you now, though, you should leave the continent soon. People know what you look like now. Your bounty is extremely high here, but bounties don't transfer between continents. Even better for you that your fame hasn't decreased.**_

 _Yeah… yeah, okay. Thank you Quinn. I hope you also find a happy ending._

 ** _Konichiwa, minna!_**

 **Gataki: Don't speak Japanese**

 **Matsuda: Actually, I don't mind**

 **Gataki: Why are you here?**

 **Matsuda: I'm a character too, you know!**

 _ **Yeah! I even gave him the lamest name I could think of!**_

 **Matsuda: See? Pika likes- hey!**

 _ **Hee hee! Just kidding, I named you after a character from a manga. He wasn't appreciated, but I loved him anyway.**_

 **Gataki: Pika, calm down. And stop staring off into space with that creepy face!**

 _ **Eh? Aw... I was only thinking about L... hee hee...**_

 **Gataki: Stop being a creepy fangirl and just do the disclaimer!**

 _ **Wha-? Oh, fine...**_

 _ **I don't own Half Prince. If I did... what have I said so far? Well, Meatbun would never have started talking. That was waaaay to weird.**_

 **Matsuda: Where am I? Why is there a weird person in front of a laptop? Gasp! Are you Kira?**

 **Matsuda: Um, who's that?**

 **Matsuda: Um, who's that?**

 _ **How'd you get in here? Out! Wait, not you! You! Out! Good, he's gone.**_

 **Gataki: Pika, why'd you chase my karaoke buddy out?**

 _ **I didn't chase him out, I chased out the other one. I sent him back to his dimension.**_

 **Matsuda: AHHHH! MY PHONE'S NOT WORKING AND I'M LOCKED IN A ROOM WITH KIRA! AHHHH!**

 _ **Oops. Oh well, I'll fix it later. We don't need Matsuda for a couple more chapters anyway. See you all next time!**_


End file.
